The term "visual literacy" generally refers to the interpretation of the formal structure of film or television and carries with it the notion that the interpreter has knowledge of the use of camera angles, lighting, flashbacks, and so forth. However, many visual conventions encountered in movies or television may be interpreted even by a "naive" viewer with no previous experience in media conventions with the use of general cognitive skills. For example, when seeing a character filmed from a low camera angle, even naive viewers can understand that the character is meant to appear powerful because viewers are accustomed to looking up to powerful people. Similarly, viewers' cognitive skills let them interpret subjective and objective shots as the camera switches from a character's point of view to a view of the scene itself. Finally, viewers are sensitive to contextual cues in nonverbal communication, so that when shots of a character's face are intercut with shots of an object of interest or a listener's face, viewers can perceive nuances of meaning by the juxtaposed images. Both "reality" and exposure to film or television are potential avenues to the interpretation of visual cues, and both sources of interpretational competence conceivably work together, interacting in a complex fashion to help viewers understand what they see. (Twelve references are included.) (JC)